Sister: Don’t get it twisted

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, responded sharply to an op/ed published in the Washington Post last weekend that criticized the bishops for prioritizing abortion above all other political issues and presumably aligning themselves with Republican John McCain. (You can find that editorial, written by former National Catholic Reporter […]

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, responded sharply to an op/ed published in the Washington Post last weekend that criticized the bishops for prioritizing abortion above all other political issues and presumably aligning themselves with Republican John McCain. (You can find that editorial, written by former National Catholic Reporter scribe Joe Feuerherd, here.)

In her own WaPo op/ed, Walsh says Feuerherd’s “screed … epitomizes the incivility of this campaign season, where truth has become a casualty and half-truths the norm.”

Walsh says the bishops did not limit their document on Catholics in the public square “Faithful Citizenship,” to denunciations of abortion. They also spoke out about the war, immigration, the death penalty, and poverty.


Walsh also takes Feuerherd to task for referring to Holy Communion as a “wafer,” saying that “crude reference … should be beneath anyone who respects people’s religious sentiments, let alone an acknowledged Catholic.”

Ouch. As someone who was educated in early life by nuns, I can almost feel the sting of the ruler across Feuerherd’s knuckles.

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